not informing me whether she had brought one with her or not.--On this
score I will cork up some of the kind things that were ready to drop from
my pen, which has never been dipt in gall when addressing you; or, will
only suffer an exclamation--"The creature!" or a kind look, to escape me,
when I pass the slippers--which I could not remove from my _salle_ door,
though they are not the handsomest of their kind.

Be not too anxious to get money!--for nothing worth having is to be
purchased. God bless you.

Yours affectionately

* * * *

* * * * *

LETTER VIII.

Monday Night [December 30.]

MY best love, your letter to-night was particularly grateful to my heart,
depressed by the letters I received by ----, for he brought me several,
and the parcel of books directed to Mr. ------ was for me. Mr. ------'s
letter was long and very affectionate; but the account he gives me of his
own affairs, though he obviously makes the best of them, has vexed me.

A melancholy letter from my sister ------ has also harrassed my
mind--that from my brother would have given me sincere pleasure; but for
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
There is a spirit of independence in his letter, that will please you;
and you shall see it, when we are once more over the fire together.--I
think that you would hail him as a brother, with one of your tender
looks, when your heart not only gives a lustre to your eye, but a dance
of playfulness, that he would meet with a glow half made up of
bashfulness, and a desire to please the----where shall I find a word to
express the relationship which subsists between us?--Shall I ask the
little twitcher?--But I have dropt half the sentence that was to tell you
how much he would be inclined to love the man loved by his sister. I have
been fancying myself sitting between you, ever since I began to write,
and my heart has leaped at the thought!--You see how I chat to you.

I did not receive your letter till I came home; and I did not expect it,
for the post came in much later than usual. It was a cordial to me--and I
wanted one.

Mr. ---- tells me that he has writ